Gabriel Jesus has disclosed that his decision to depart Manchester City was prompted by an emotional incident involving Pep Guardiola, which left him in tears after being excluded from a Champions League starting lineup.
In pursuit of more consistent opportunities in the starting eleven, Jesus made the move to Arsenal last summer from the reigning Premier League champions.
During an interview on the Denilson Show podcast, the Brazilian striker revealed that he realized he wanted to leave Manchester City when he was not selected to play in the team’s match against Paris Saint-Germain in November 2021.
The experience had a profound impact on him, leading him to seek a fresh start elsewhere.
Jesus said: “He put Zinchenko as a false nine. Crazy thing.
“The day before, he didn’t even use him [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as striker. Zinchenko even joked with me, ‘That day I felt bad for you’.
“He told us the team, I didn’t even eat. I went straight to the room, crying.
“I called my mother to talk, ‘I want to leave’. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”
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The four-time Premier League winner, 26, also revealed that the PSG incident was not the only time that he did not see eye to eye with Guardiola.
He said: “Five minutes after Mbappe scored the goal for 1-0, he [Guardiola] called me. I gave an assist and scored and we turned it around 2-1.
“In the next game, I thought I was going to play and I didn’t play.
“There was a lot of that with him and it’s not easy. That’s when I decided I didn’t want to stay any more and I decided to leave.”
Both Jesus and Zinchenko signed for the Gunners months later, finishing as Premier League runners-up to City having sat top for the majority of the 2022-23 campaign.